The Under Armour Performance Center will be a busy place this weekend.
While most of the Ravens players are away enjoying their offseason, more than 200 hopeful NFL prospects will come to the team's facility in Owings Mills to participate in a regional scouting combine.
The workouts will take place Saturday and Sunday, with defensive players beginning at 8 a.m. and offensive players at 1:30 p.m. Players will go through a series of drills and tests – 40-yard dash, shuttle drill, bench press, vertical jump – just like the prospects at the national scouting combine in Indianapolis.
A roster of 275 prospects are currently slated to attend, including prospects from local colleges like defensive tackle Alafe Temitope (Maryland), wide receiver Ronnie Tyler (Maryland), tight end Jonathan Boyer (Towson) and wide receiver Hakeem Moore (Towson).
The prospects are long shots to make an NFL roster, but last year's regional combines showed that getting in front of NFL scouts can create opportunities for some of these lesser-known players.
There were 1,900 prospects who participated in the regional combines last year, and 87 went on to get signed by teams at the start of training camp. Four of the regional combine participants got drafted and 43 were on active rosters by the start of opening day.
Starting Rams' kicker Greg Zuerlien and punter Johnny Hekker were both products of regional combines.
The NFL started holding regional scouting combines last year to give prospects not invited to the national combine the opportunity to get in front of NFL scouts and possibly earn their way onto an NFL roster. There are 10 regional combines held around the country, and then the standouts from the regional sites will be invited to participate in the Super Regional Combine at Cowboys Stadium on April 7-8.
